Metal Doesn't Float
by sctwilightvampwolfgal
Summary: Edlynn nearly drowns, and ends up being saved by a different creature. Fem!Edward Elric.
1. Chapter 1

Edlynn gazed up at the man that had saved her.

She blinked in surprise when she caught sight of a fishy tail potruding from the man's body.

The man vanished from sight with in the water's depth,

Al ran over; his ponytail swayed at the movement.

Roy Mustang was with him.

"Fullmetal, you're a girl?" Roy asked in his surprise.

"Yeah." Ed muttered.

Mustang draped his military jacket over Edlynn's shoulders to help conceal her identity.

"I'm guessing that you don't want anyone to find out." Roy Mustang pointed out.

"Not now, but it didn't matter before." Ed explained with in a mutter.

Roy began to up his jacket on his now obviously female subordinate.

Ed glared at Mustang; she wanted to hit him, but her body was stiff and cold which disabled all movement.

* * *

Alfons stared at the two people that ran up to the girl that he had saved.

He didn't miss the intimate way that one of the men placed a coat over the girl's shoulders, or the fact that she didn't push him away when he did.

May be his mother had been right to say, "Humans are senseless creatures that will just break your heart."

He vowed to never swim close to the shore, or to rescue another human again.


	2. Chapter 2

Ed resumed her life like her near drown didn't happen.

She continued working for the military after all her contract with the military hadn't ended yet, and what was she supposed to do when it did?

She had began to wonder about the strange man that had saved her; she knew that she hadn't imagined his tail.

Was he a mermaid?

No, mermaid's were only female.

What was he then?

Edlynn's head spunned as she tried to figure out what that man was, and what this meant for her to be saved by whatever he was.

Did the have weird customs about rescuing drowning humans?

Did the man expect something from her?

* * *

Alfons could clearly see the golden eyes of the girl that he had saved from drowning with in his mind's eye.

He could also see the dark golden color of her wet hair that had been tugged loose by the waves.

He saw how her clothes clung to her wet body, sort of like a second skin.

Alfons could see, and remember everything about her in his head.

"Hey Prince Alfons!" A childish voice called out.

Alfons looked out of the palace walls to find his childhood friend, Wrath, waiting outside for him.

Wrath wasn't his real name of course, but everyone called him by it none the less.

"What is it, Wrath?" Alfons was frustrated with his obvious attraction with the human girl that he had saved; she was the one girl that he couldn't have, or it felt like that anyway.

"What's wrong?" Wrath asked, and floated up to Alfons's window.

"I saved someone." Alfons admitted, knowing that Wrath would pester him until he told him anyway.

"Who Lilac?" Wrath asked his friend eagerly; Lilac was known as the most beautiful mernaid in all the ocean, but she was extremely stuck up, and could barely swim.

"No. A human." Alfons whispered the last words as if his father was standing right beside him.

"Really? Male or female?" Wrath as usual was excited over something that could potentially get them in trouble.

"Female." Alfons admitted, and wondered if Wrath's interest had anything to do with the rumor that Wrath had been human once before.

"Ooh! Was she pretty?" Wrath asked with perhaps too much enthusiasm.

"Very." Alfons answered in a tone that clearly stated that he would rather be six feet under the ground than have this conversation with Wrath.

"We could find her," Wrath added in his most persuasive voice that fell flat under it's expectations.


	3. Chapter 3

Ed knew that sating her curiousity might not be a good idea, but none the less, here she was at the beach.

She hadn't brought anyone with her, nor did they know where she was at the moment.

She stared at the crashing waves, hoping that her Automail wouldn't drown her if she stepped with in the crashing waves.

She ended up not needing to risk herself to encounter her savior.

* * *

Alfons couldn't believe that he had let Wrath talk him in to seeing her again!

They really weren't supposed to reveal themselves to humans after all the current king disapproved of merpeople communicating with humans as did the previous queen before she had died.

Alfons also didn't want the girl that he had rescued to see his tail if she hadn't already spotted it before.

He didn't want her to confirm her suspicions about him having a tail; he'd rather her think that she had imagined it.

* * *

Edlynn spotted two mermen swimming towards the shore where she stood.

She recognized one of them as her savior, but she hadn't seen the other one before.

"Hello." She called out while feeling like an idiot for doing so.

She noticed that the two of them were talking.

They swam closer, and she noticed that the one with black hair had a dark blue tail.

She examined the fish man that had saved her.

He had blue eyes, and short, pale blonde hair.

He had a light green tail that went all the way up to his waist where there were splotches of green that connected to his tail.

His chest was bare except for a necklace that landed there.

The necklace was a rusty brown color, and was in the shape of a cross.

He wasn't muscular from what Edlynn could tell, but he was thin with a slightly noticable somewhat muscular abdomen from having to swim all the time.

His skin was pale from lack of sunlight, and stood out in the light of the fading day.


	4. Chapter 4

"She looks sort of like a boy. Is there something you're not telling me?" Wrath asked his very best friend.

"Just you wait until we're closer." Alfons promised.

Wrath nodded, but didn't seem to believe that promise.

Alfons froze at the shoreline to not reveal more of his merself, and out of the awe at that he experienced at seeing Edlynn Elric again.

"Thank you for uh rescuing me." A female voice came from the human, confirming what Alfons had told Wrath.

The human girl spun on her heel to leave.

"Wait! Please tell me your name." Alfons called out.

"Edlynn Elric." Was the human girl's answer before she left the beach.

* * *

Alfons replayed her voice in his head as well as her name.

"Alfons. Time to meet them." The King, Alfons's father, told him.

Alfons got up, and wandered down to the ballroom that was connected to the dining room by a small door.

Alfons noticed the line up of women that were waiting for him; they were considered the prettiest, and wealthiest mermaids out of all the ocean.

None of them seemed all that attractive to Alfons Heiderich.

Lilac was one of the mergirls that had arrived, and definately stood out from the group with her wavy, light brown hair, and slender frame. Her green eyes glistened like emeralds, and her top was made out of pearls.

Alfons knew that the real torture would begin when he talked to each and everyone of them.

He took them one at a time to the dining room to talk while they ate.

Most only ate a light, seaweed salad, and couldn't stop talking about themselves.

Alfons let his mind wander off for a little while.

'I doubt that Edlynn only eats a small salad.' Alfons mused as he dined with one of the many mermaids that had shown up.


	5. Chapter 5

Edlynn's mind wandered back over to the nameless merman; she could still see his almost desperate look when he asked for her name, and she wondered why he cared.

Ed also didn't feel like they had met The Law Of Equivalent Exchange when that man, or whatever he was had learned her name. After all she hadn't learned his.

"You didn't like any of them?" Wrath snickered.

"I didn't." Alfons confirmed, trying not to worry over his father's renewed search for potential merbrides for Alfons to marry.

"Are you still crushing on that human?" Wrath asked, sounding upset about the possibility.

"I don't really know what to call it." Alfons muttered.

"May be we should find out." Wrath theorized, and started tugging Alfons towards the shore.

Edlynn wasn't there which didn't really surprise Alfons.

"Write her a letter; humans do that too, right?" Wrath commanded with a question.

"Yeah." Alfons mumbled, and vanished to grab 'paper' to write on.

Alfons wrote the letter in an elegant manner, and sealed it in a gold scroll type case.

He cooed like a seagull, and handed the scroll off to the seagull that had arrived at the call.

Alfons then tied a green ribbon to it's leg.

"Deliver it to Edlynn Elric." Alfons commanded gently, and then he let go of the bird.

The seagull dutifully to flew off.


	6. Chapter 6

Ed was explaining, more like arguing, with her superior officer when the glass of the window started getting tapped.

Hawkeye opened the window to start shooing off the bird, but it flew in to the room instead of flying away.

The bird dropped on to Ed's lap.

Ed went to push the seagull off of her lap, but the bird flew around her before dropping back on to her lap.

"Get!" Edlynn growled at the bird.

It squawked in response, and dropped a golden, scroll like case on Edlynn's lap.

Al muttered, "That looks important." He seemed surprised that the bird was a messenger from a very important person.

Edlynn opened the case, and the letter fell on to her lap.

Dear Edlynn,

I can't get you out of my head. Can you tell me about yourself? What is your favorite food? Do you have any siblings? Do you work anywhere? Have you ever been in love? I didn't tell you who I was, did I? I'm Prince Alfons Heidrich, or in other words the merman that saved you from drowning. I live somewhat close to the shore in an underwater palace. You can ask me about my culture if you would like. What is your life like? What is it like being human? Please keep in touch with me.

Sincerely, Prince Alfons Heidrich

P.S. Give the bird the letter that you write, and tell him to deliver it to Prince Alfons Heidrich, and he will. Remember to put it in the gold case, so that the paper doesn't get wet.


	7. Chapter 7

Alfons felt wierd; his father had decided to ask him if he was sexually attracted to women much to Alfons's horror.

Alfons knew that he was, because he had feelings for a woman if the dreams of kissing Edlynn was evidence enough.

It had been three days since he had sent the letter to her, but she hadn't responded as of yet.

* * *

"You should write back." Al reasoned as he played with his new friend, Merbird, or in other words the seagull that The Prince had sent to Edlynn.

Alphonse Elric had named the messenger gull.

"Why?" Ed grumbled; this had caused the whole office to know about her real gender, and she had to deal with Winry's enthusiasm about a real life prince even if he wasn't necessarily human.

Ed began to wonder if the bird was trained to follow her; he never left Ed alone.

"Why haven't you wrote him back?" Roy Mustang asked in his amusement; Edlynn was too busy trying to make the bird leave her alone to answer.

Al grabbed Merbird, and watched his sister plop down on one of the couches in Roy's office.

Al wasn't far behind; Merbird attacked anyone that tried to keep him away from Ed.


	8. Chapter 8

Wrath whispered, "I can turn human."

Alfons stared at his friend.

"I was human once, and I kept practicing turning human until I could." Wrath answered Alfons's unspoken question.

"Are you going to talk to Edlynn?" Anfons asked his friend, nervously.

"That was the plan; let's go." Wrath answered.

* * *

Ed startled at the knock on Mustang's outer office's door.

Hawkeye answered the door to see a boy out there.

"Why are you here?" Riza asked the boy.

He grinned at her, but walked right in to Roy's interior office.

"Edlynn Elric, right?" Wrath asked her, rather cheerlessly.

"Yes?" Ed muttered.

Wrath had brought his hand down against Ed's face with a slap.

Edlynn moved away from Wrath, but she still glared at him.

"I feel much better now, but Prince Alfons would kill me if he knew that I hit you." Wrath added on.

"What are you, his servant?" Ed grumbled.

"Nope! His best friend; a servant wouldn'y hit you." Wrath tacked on cheerfully.

"Prince Alfons has had a tough time with things lately. The King has been trying to set him up with royal, wealthy, or beautiful mermaids, but none of them interest The Prince. I told him to marry Lilac, but he didn't listen." Wrath complained.

"Who's Lilac?" Ed asked, hating herself for immediately hating the unknown mermaid.

"She's the most beautiful mermaid in all of the sea. She's wealthy, too." Wrath sighed, dreamily.

"How come he just didn't marry one of them?" Edlynn asked.

"He didn't like Lilac, because she was stuck up, or something like that. He can't get you out of his head anyway which is stupid, because you can't be together anyway." Wrath pointed out.

"How come you have legs?" Al asked him.

"I nearly drowned when I was a baby, and The King turned me in to a merman. I can barely hold my human form, though." Wrath explained to them.

"Why can't Ed be transformed in to a mermaid?" Winry asked.

"The King would never allow it, and she'd sink with those metal limbs. Even if it did work, we probably couldn't convince The King that you were a real mermaid, because we'd have to teach you everything about merculture. Plus we would have to get that all done on a deadline. Prince Alfons needs to pick a bride in the next few months." Wrath muttered, pessimistically.

"Why?" Al gasped.

"He needs to pick a queen; he will be king when the current king dies." Wrath explained.

"But isn't he pretty young to do any of that?" Al asked about Prince Alfons.

"It doesn't matter to royalty. He will need a queen as well as children." Wrath explained, casually and easily.

Edlynn blushed.

"He's interested in me for all of that?" Ed asked, incredulously.

"I don't know why he wants you, because you are human which means that you have legs, and not a tail. May be it has something to do with what he can't have." Wrath reasoned in an almost rude manner.


	9. Chapter 9

"Edlynn's younger brother grew attached to the messenger gull that you sent." Wrath told Alfons.

"Really?" Alfons muttered, probably more interested that his 'crush' had a brother than the rest of that sentence.

"Yeah. Oh, your girl works for the military." Wrath casually remarked.

"Oh, no." Alfons vanished in to the royal library of magic spells which was mostly what Wrath called it.

Wrath wasn't really allowed to enter in it, but he did anyway.

The library was in the palace, and only the Heidrich's were supposed to enter it.

Alfons Heidrich dug furiously through the various books and papers.

"Wrath, could you cover for me?" Alfons asked, hopefully.

"Nope. I am willing to go on whatever adventure that you are about to embark on." Wrath chipped in with his own two cents.

Alfons sighed, but nodded; it was easier to accept Wrath's request than to tell him, "No."

Alfons moved to a small outcropping of rocks above the water.

He gently set down the books that he had brought from the library.

He said something that Wrath couldn't decipher, and placed his hands on the cover of an old text.

Alfons shifted to human, naked as could be.

Wrath shifted form with out the use of 'magic.'

"Could you bring that back to the palace library for me?" Alfons asked his friend.

"That would be a crime." Wrath grinned.

He shifted back to merman form, and vanished under water to drop off the books in the library.


	10. Chapter 10

"Hello." Wrath announced as he entered Mustang's outer office, not bothering to knock this time.

Roy Mustang's interior office's door was already open.

Edlynn fell off of one of Roy's black leather couches.

"What's little fish boy doing here?" Ed grumbled to no one in particular.

"I brought a friend." He motioned towards Alfons.

"Don't mind me asking, but how did you get legs?" Alphonse Elric asked them.

"I used the power that runs in my blood." Alfons muttered as an answer.

"In other words, he looked it up in his family's old library." Wrath chimed in.

"So, how long can you stay?" Al asked, curiously.

"Probably not long, because The King doesn't know." Wrath answered for his friend.

"Damn it, Alfons!" Ed cursed.

Wrath chimed in seriously, warning her, "You aren't allowed to speak to him so informally."

"It's alright, Wrath." Prince Alfons reassured his friend.

"Why would you do that?" Ed roared.

"I wanted to see you, and make sure you're safe." Alfons muttered.

Winry squealed.

Edlynn stared blankly at Alfons, "What did you say?"

"Nothing." Alfons answered; his face bloomed in to a pretty, rosy color.

Ed stared incredulously at Alfons Heidrich, obviously not quite believing that answer.


	11. Chapter 11

Alfons stared at the room in wonder.

'Edlynn lives here.' Alfons thought as he surveyed the small room with his eyes.

"You can have my bed." Al told Alfons, kindly.

"I call the couch!" Wrath shouted, and jumped on to it.

"Which bed is normally your's?" Alfons asked; Edlynn was still in the meeting with her commanding officer.

"That one is." Al pointed to the second bed.

Alfons climbed in with out so much as a second thought.

He had had an exhausting day, so sleep claimed him rather quickly.

* * *

"Al, what's he doing here?" Ed shouted at her brother after she had spotted the man that was sleeping in her brother's bed.

"Sh.. Sister, he's sleeping." Al tryed to quiet down his sister.

Edlynn grumbled something under her breath about, "stupid mermaid princes."

She fell asleep pretty quickly despite all of her complaints.

The next morning, Alfons awoke to the smell of something cooking.

Alfons stretched out his new legs, and got of bed.

His eyes took in the sleeping form of Edlynn with her hair down for once, and spread out all around her.

He smiled, and walked in to the kitchen.

Alphonse Elric was making breakfast while Wrath asked him every possible question about being human all the way to Al's past.


	12. Chapter 12

Breakfast was awkward.

Alfons stared at the meat in fear, and relunctantly took a bite of it.

Ed refused to talk to the merprince that sat at her table, and Wrath ate like a pig.

Al glanced at the table's other occupants, and tried to think of something to say.

The words didn't come, and the silence ate up the table.

* * *

Mustang decided to give Edlynn another mission, so Alfons and Wrath retreated back in to the ocean.

Winry seemed sad to see them go.

Alfons ended up grounded, and it became forbidden for him to see with for the duration of Alfons's groundation.

Wrath still shown up every night to talk to Alfons despite what The King had said.

Wrath was evidently enamored with that Winry girl that was apparently one of Edlynn's childhood friends.

Wrath spent a lot of his time during the day talking to Winry usually while they were on land.

Alfons slowly began to realize that there was no way that he could ever be with Edlynn, and that he would have to marry one of the mermaids that his father had chosen for him.

Things seemed to be going much better for Wrath, and Alfons wouldn't be surprised if his once human friend did marry the human girl.


	13. Chapter 13

"Do you know that Alfons will have to get married in a week?" Wrath asked Edlynn.

"Did you show up just to tell me that?" Ed grumbled.

"I've been showing up everyday to talk to Winry; I just figured that you should know about Prince Alfons." Wrath chimed in.

"How come Prince Alfons hasn't visited?" Al asked the human merman that was talking to them.

"The King won't let him out of the castle, because he ran away last time." Wrath explained, easily.

Winry muttered, "That makes sense."

"Want to go to the beach, Win?" Wrath asked his sort of girl friend.

"Sure." Winry answered Wrath.

* * *

"Are you going to do anything about his upcoming wedding?" Al asked his sister.

"Why should I?" Ed grumbled, bitterly.

"Because you love him, and he loves you back." Al reasoned with his sister.

"That's not true." Edlynn argued with her brother.

Al sighed, sadly.

'Why can't she just take the chance to be happy for once?' Al worried about his elder sister.


	14. Chapter 14

Alfons stood in front of his soon to be wife, Aurora.

Aurora had light blond hair, and light green eyes that sparkled like the ocean's water.

Aurora's hair had a veil on it, just for the occasion.

She wore a white silk top over top whatever color her pair of seashells were, and her silk top fell over her tail in a light manner, hiding most of her goldish green tail.

Alfons may have chosen her, because some of her features looked similar to Ed's in a certain light.

Alfons readied himself for the ceremony that would make her his wife.

"Wait!" A frantic voice called out; the voice belonged to Alfons's best friend.

Alfons's eyes took in a couple of figures that swam in.

One in particular caught his eye: a mergirl of about Alfons's own age.

She had golden blond hair that was wavy as if she had just taken it out of a braid, wide golden eyes that were as bright as the sun, a long, red tail, and two red seashells rested on her breasts.

"Edlynn." Alfons gasped; he had never seen a more beautiful mermaid.

Edlynn's arm was made of a lighter metal that didn't sink her, and Alfons wondered where the leg had gone.

It was impossible to turn a metal leg in to a tail, and the tail definately wasn't fake.

"Are we allowed to switch the brides?" Wrath asked.

Alfons's father looked more than a little startled by this turn of events.

"Aurora?" Alfons asked his current bride, nervously.

"Go ahead." Aurora pulled the veil off of her head, and placed it on top of Edlynn's head.

She even pulled Ed's hair up the way that her's had been.

She slid her mermaid dress off, and helped Edlynn in to the silk merdress.

She led Ed over to the altar.

Wrath seemed just as surprised over Aurora's acceptance as The King had been over the whole ordeal.

"How come you are so easygoing about this?" Wrath asked Aurora.

"I know what love is like; my lover died out at sea a year ago." Aurora admitted; the pain sparkled in her eyes like circular crystals.

Alfons married the one that he loved on his eighteenth birthday.

He and Edlynn became king and queen after that fateful day.


End file.
